June 04, 2008

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Clinton, at AIPAC, could have -- as she did last night -- played the role of the candidate, focusing on contrasts with Obama, and triggering a swift, massive confrontation. Or she could have defended him.

In a mark of conciliation, she did the latter.

"Let me be clear: I know Senator Obama understands what is at stake here. It has been an honor to contest these primaries with him," she said. "I know that Senator Obama will be a good friend to Israel."

"I know that Senator Obama shares my view," she said, that America must remain a staunch Israeli ally, "our stance non-negotiable" and that "the United States stands with Israel now and forever.

She also attacked McCain as more of the same, versus the "new beginning" Democrats offer.

According to both internal polling and exit polls by independent news
organizations, the Democratic Party is becoming increasingly polarized along certain segments of its base. The recent result in West Virginia, while generally unsurprising and definitely unlikely to cause any real shift in the race, highlights the growing bitterness between certain supporters of Clinton and the Obama camp in general. This unique situation has created an opening that could help depress the turnout of key Democratic demographics in November.

The specific group we are targeting is a cross-section of white, female voters over the age of 40. Internal polling reveals that this group is the most likely to support John McCain after Obama wins the nomination. However, we expect Obama's numbers to improve following Clinton's drop. Our job is to make sure that number stays as low as possible.

Our limited financial resources and the media's attention on the Democratic race, however, prevent us from reaching this group. Our aim is to point out specific issues that we believe resonate well:

1. Sen. Obama's connection to Rev. Wright
2. His inexperience
3. His links to the corrupt Chicago political machine

However, we cannot fully achieve this goal without a greater commitment on
the part of McCain's fundraisers and our various media partners. In lieu of that, we have developed a number of inexpensive ways to reach this audience.

We have already worked to reinforce the Clinton campaign's narrative about the unfair treatment that some networks, specifically MSNBC, have given her camp. We are also planning to unroll a new campaign to highlight Obama's experience deficit.

Simultaneously, our team has been testing new lines of attack through independent pro-Clinton communities on the Internet. Our hope is that our message here will spread by word-of-mouth. Our local community organizing has also been successful. We have organized dozens of "meet-ups" across the country for Clinton supporters, and we have used that time to stress the importance of punishing the DNC for choosing the undemocratically selected far-left Obama. At the moment, this is nothing more than a headache for the Obama campaign.

With a greater commitment on your part, I hope to see it metastasize into something much more.

It's been a while since I said this without irony, but here it goes: Thank you for saying that Senator Clinton. If you start taking the high road, the Democrats can find a way to truly end this primary in a manner which lends dignity to both campaigns. We're gonna need our strength to defeat Senator McDouche in the fall.

Randy, Connie, Cowgirl: Look at the words your candidate is speaking right now. She's already coming around to show her support for the Democratic nominee. As for your repeated refrain that Senator Clinton won the popular vote, I think you know that you're being disingenuous at best. Counting every vote would include counting the voices of people in caucus states, and the nearly 40% of people in Michigan who showed up to their polling places and chose not to vote for Senator Clinton. If you include all the votes, Senator Obama retains his narrow lead. So please, continue to be zealous advocates for your candidate, but try and show some of the class she's showing, and enough with the false sanctimony.

And then she goes on to attack, directly, (giving the Republicans a stack of further talking points) Obama's diplomacy stance... She is deplorable. I am ashamed that she is in my party. As I type she is talking about how she won't tolerate anti-semitism... But she incited racism to win elections. A horrible woman.

I disagree, I think Obama has already damaged Israel. He has given aid and comfort to Iran--ligitimized the position that wiping Israel off the map is a valid position to take. We can not let this man be President. McCain is no prize but he is old someone will beat him 2012! Obama's foreign politics are naive and dangerous.

She's like Lucy in Charlie Brown. Promising to hold the football & then yanking it out from under him at the last minute. She is all nice now but will later go out & keep up that crap about popular vote winner, hard working "white Americans", winning the electoral college. Just go away.

When does the day stop that the media stops talking about Clinton and give Obama his due? He is the Democratic Nominee....not maybe, not hopefuly, not possibly, so when will the media report tht and stop talking about Clinton? When will she become null and void? It is sicking to see the media continue to talk about her....She is no longer in control of the party, and instead of focusing on Obama's speech media is talking about her,....Again when does it stop?
CLINTON LOST!!!!DEAL WITH IT!!!!

Since when did we start caring what LOBBYISTS thought of the candidates' policies? A lobby is a lobby by any other name -- and here are our candidates pandering to that lobby. Whoever wins, it will be 4 more years of special interests, or at least AIPAC, running Washington. That means at least 4 more years of war in the Middle East due to their hawkish policies that exceed those of even a majority of Israelis.

stick a fork in her. i disgust her and i've have enough of her. i've been patient enough. we're not gonna hang on her every word to see if THIS time she's gonna be gracious. she freakin' lost. prompt swift acknowledgement IS a precondition.

Perhaps she meant "He will be a good friend of Israel as my VP". Nothing she says, order than a concession, should be given any importance. Several times, they've made a fool of everyone - saying things in private and then denying.

Obama will have to check with Jimmy Carter and Hamas first, and with his Nation of Islam aides. Then he will sit for tea with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has said Israel will be destroyed.
Tell us Oh Obama, where do you begin negotiating that point.
Obama is clueless.

"Will be" means he hasn't ever been in the past. Hillary that is wishful thinking. Barack Obama has so many biases and no one has called him on them because he is black and no one can say anything negative about anyone with black skin or you are labeled a bigot. So he just goes on calling women sweetie and barganing with terrorists and everyone is afraid to call him out. What a disaster--the GOP has the guts to face the name calling they will call him out.

SA:
"I disagree, I think Obama has already damaged Israel. He has given aid and comfort to Iran--ligitimized the position that wiping Israel off the map is a valid position to take."
He has done nothing of the sort. The only strategy that has legitimized Iran's position is the Neoconservative agenda of Bush and McCain. Ahmadinejad remains in power because, to Iranians, Bush seems to be proving what their extremist leaders have been saying about us all along: that we're anti-Islamic crusaders, intent on conquering the Middle East. That may not be true, but taking a policy of, "We're not going to talk to you!" only helps to further convince the Iranians that this is our agenda.

You people just can't stop, can you. At some point, she could have publicly said "Thanks BO for apologizing for your idiot priest friend's comments", but that would have been a lie as he never said it. Or, she might have publicly said, "Thanks BO for flipping me off at 3 of your rallies", but she never referenced it. I'm sure she was scheduled to be at this conference well before last night's primary results. She got up, she talked unity, she complimented BO (much to my dismay) and still we have the smart a** comments. Give it a rest. She isn't going anywhere and nor should she. You've got your candidate, so lay off before you completely pi** the rest of us off. God, you guys are fanatics.

Anon. @ 11:52 AM: That's a ridiculous position of you to take. If you claim that Obama is biased against women simply because he called a reporter "sweetie," you have to accept that Hillary is biased against blacks, because of her "hard-working, white people" comment.